Whether you are an outdoor adventure enthusiast or you want to travel, you need to carry supplies to facilitate your activity. Road trips, especially, can be tricky. When you are out with your friends or family, you would need to carry more luggage, which might not fit in your car’s boot. A quality roof rack should sustainably hold your travel luggage and make your trip enjoyable.
However, without care, you might end up carrying a load on a below-standard rack and mess up your whole experience. You, therefore, need to choose your car roof rack carefully to ensure that it satisfies your travel needs – both now and in the future. Follow these steps to find the best roof rack that fits your car.
The Type of Loads you Carry
While you may need to transport various types of luggage on your car’s rack, it is essential to know why you need the roof rack at a particular time or most of the time. The roof racks have different designs to facilitate you in your outdoor activities. There are racks designed for transporting kayaks, surfboards, and other sporting equipment.
Roof rack baskets are ideal for carrying various types of goods on the car roof. This design is ideal when you want to use your vehicle to carry various goods, for example, to the market. In case you are not decisive about your needs, you can buy universal roof racks for your vehicle. When you need to carry some goods that need special handling, you can use specific rack accessories that work on any roof rack.
Rack Weight
Every vehicle has a maximum carrying capacity you can load on the roof. Going overboard may cause damage to your car. Therefore, you should keep your fantasies away when picking the roof rack. Although the weight of a roof rack may depend on its design and material, you should find one that is light enough to give room for the luggage and leave the vehicle steady for the haul.
Because of this, some roof racks may well fit onto a vehicle, but only in size. However, depending on your car model, the weight of the roof rack may not matter. Robust vehicles can sustain the racks that you need for all your carriages. But since heavy roof racks mean more gas consumption, you would want to find a light rack that can hold the weight you need to carry.
Rack Strength
Apart from the design, material, and glossiness, a roof rack needs to be robust. Quality time investment, attention to detail, and dedication is necessary when designing and assembling of roof racks. You can have a roof rack of a strong material like steel, but the assembling is so poor that the rack breaks when you load your luggage. Some manufacturers also use plastic components to offer a low-end budget. But I am sure you want better quality compared to price.
Long-distance journeys, upcountry tours, and offroad activities are quite strenuous. For people who love outdoor adventure, you may need to use a roof rack tent to spend your nights or take naps instead of pitching on the damp grounds. You want a strong roof rack to ensure that you have a stress-free experience when carrying your loads on the car rack. Factor in all the weight you are going to load and the navigation difficulty on your tour.
Use Your Car’s Current Setup
Vehicle manufacturers ship cars with OEM-installed roof bars, side rails, or both. However, some do not have them because luggage-carriage is not a priority in their design. You, therefore, need to use your car’s design to find the right roof rack to carry your goods.
Universal roof racks can fit on the side rails of your car. There are those designed to fit all forms of OEM rails and bars, but others are adaptive to the design of the rails. The designs include square, circular, and oblique shapes. But again, with this type of setup, you may not need a complete roof rack for the car. Some custom cross-bars and purpose-oriented rack attachments can help you accomplish your needs.
Consider the Design of the Mount Locks
Nothing is ever permanent. At some point, you will want to buy a new car. But that does not mean that you should buy a different roof rack for every car that you own. While shopping for the roof rack for your car, it is ideal for factoring the probability of changing your vehicle. Even if you have not planned, some things happen instantly, and you may need to upgrade the vehicle at some point.
To save on the roof rack costs, especially knowing the quality you need, you should consider one that has removable mount locks. When you upgrade your vehicle, you may realize that the roof rack mounts do not fit on your new vehicle. That would make everything look useless. However, with removable mount locks, you can buy a new mounting case that fits the new car and retain the rack and the locks. In this way, you can also use your roof rack on different cars whenever you need it.
6. Product Support and Warranty
In every market, some manufacturers sell products that are below what you will consider as quality. Car roof racks are not exceptional. There are many cheap products in the market with no customer protection policies. Buying from phony product vendors will leave you all to yourself, and you have nowhere to run to when the rack fails.
Therefore, before you buy a roof rack for your car, insist on its warranty cover. Manufacturers who know the value of their customers include service or product manuals. The warranty cover ensures that you are protected in case the roof rack fails. Longer warranty protections mean better quality and service from the manufacturer.
Summing Up
A roof rack is an essential accessory for everyone that owns a car. It becomes convenient even when you least expect. Wherever you go, you would want to ensure that you have a working roof rack to help you carry your belongings. However, the roof rack you buy for your car matters a lot. There is no need to choose a fancy rack that will not serve your needs. That is why you should consider the points you have read when buying your car’s roof rack.
